You're Welcome, Mama Earth!

I try and be as much of a “crunchy” mom as I can stomach. I believe in breastfeeding and eco-friendly disposable diapers. But there are many ways as a mom that I have unconsciously began to help the planet out of sheer laziness, necessity or my version of waving my mommy white flag.  

We drive less. Not because I worry about my non-Prius carbon footprint, but because just the thought of loading and unloading my kids to and from their car seats, is enough to get to me to stay home.

We feed the wildlife. Everywhere we go, we leave a trail of goldfish crackers in our wake. Some lucky dogs, ducks and squirrels are getting to reap the benefits of my laziness and the fact that we buy in bulk from Costco.

I pick up trash. When we are out on a walk to the park, you better believe, if there is a cigarette butt on the ground it will end up in my children’s mouths. So instead of introducing them to nicotine at the ages of 3 and 1.5, I pick up garbage. All I'm missing is a stylish reflective orange vest.

Speaking of trash, every toddler I know has a love of garbage cans. Perhaps they are part raccoon, but one of my children’s first human tricks was to put items in the garbage or the recycling and to know the difference between the two. It is less impressive when they return with a rotten banana peel that they’ve retrieved out of the trash.

We re-purpose rain water into a white trash swimming pool which also doubles as a bath/ sandpit.

Since having children, I’ve never done a “half a load” of laundry. I even had to Google the term, because I assumed “half” meant throwing half of the baby clothes in with the wet towels they decided to pull into the bathtub while it was full.

So to you Mother Earth, from one Mama to another, we are doing our part to help you out.   

The Organic Rabbit Hole

Having a baby has changed the way I look at the world. If I’m being honest, before becoming a mom, I never gave serious thought to terms like: organic, biodegradable, and high fructose corn syrup. Now I haven’t fallen completely down the rabbit hole, because once you start digging, not only would you never leave your house, but you would discover things like chicken abuse and that Johnson and Johnson’s shampoo contains formaldehyde. Sometimes you learn something you wish you hadn’t. For instance, on the list of loves of my life are: my husband, my baby, and my Keurig, I have come to find out that Keurig capsules are not biodegradable and.... the inventor himself regrets ever having come up with the idea. Now I can’t stop picturing my daughter one day building her dream home on a huge pile of used K-cups because the Earth itself has suddenly become Garbage Island. Do yourself a favor and do not Google Garbage Island. 

Outside the birth of my daughter and my wonderful eco- friendly sister in-law (hi Michele!), my organic introduction came via The Honest Company. I literally thank my sister and her husband every day for giving us a two year supply of diapers as well as a host of other organic products from The Honest Company like laundry detergent and shampoo (that don't contain the same ingredients they use to preserve dead frogs for science experiments). Thanks to these stepping stones, my eyes have been opened to organic baby food pouches and companies like Farm Fresh to You. Also, after successfully breastfeeding Charlotte for a year (air high five!) we've now moved onto cow’s milk and I've discovered the wonderment that is organic milk. Growing up we bought so much milk each week the checker literally asked if we bathed in it. Indeed, my 6’0 tall family is a walking advertisement for the milk slogan “does a body good”. I cannot believe it took me 30 years to realize what real milk should taste like. Despite the minor dent in our savings account (don’t ever go to Whole Foods on an empty stomach) I have only encountered positive changes in our lives since I started to pay attention. In my free time you will not find me hugging a tree or posing nude for PETA’s “I’d rather go naked" campaign but I have evolved into a somewhat “crunchy” mother and it’s downright delicious. 

Honestly, how cute are these diapers?